Vj Hopefuls Want Their Mtv Tryouts

Dorothy Swinney skipped her political science class and hopped on a Greyhound bus in Jackson, Miss., Monday night for a 14-hour ride to Chicago -- and for a date with what she says is her destiny.

"I really, really want this job," she groaned, her face tightened in anticipation. "I came a long way for this job."

Swinney, 22, was first in the line of nearly 1,000 antsy, made-up, jean-clad, dreadlocked, tongue-pierced hopefuls in MTV's latest contest for its new on-air "VJ," which starts this afternoon.

Nearly 300 camped out Wednesday night outside the Equitable Building, at 401 N. Michigan Ave. And, by this morning, more than 800 weaved around colored flags as if waiting in line at Disney World.

Some of the 18-and-older crowd were like Swinney, full of adrenaline; others were "over it."

"I don't know why I even got convinced to coming here," said Lonnie Phillips, looking down at his girlfriend, who was keeping warm in thick, red-and-black striped tights and gossiping on her cell phone.

"It was cold out here last night," said the 20-year-old student from Downer's Grove.

Against odds that MTV officials are describing as "better than the lottery," two semifinalists will be selected and announced at noon Friday. Two were picked in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and eight will be chosen in New York next week.

For today's audition, hopefuls from Chicago, Detroit and as far as San Diego will be brought into the building's basement, where more than 100 MTV employees and rooms full of lighting equipment are assembled into nine audition stations.

After hair and makeup touch-ups, they'll be seated in front of a camera, asked why they want to be a VJ and told to read a cue card.

"We're looking for what we call watchability," said MTV spokesman David Sirulnick. "It's not just looks, it's not just style. It's making people want to know what you're going to say next."

Also on hand to give advice was current VJ David Holmes, 28, who was the runner-up in last year's contest, when MTV decided to take the winner and the second-place contender.

Once the semifinalists are selected, they are narrowed down by MTV execs and then placed before the station's viewers for an on-air vote by telephone.

Last year, about 8,000 votes came in for Holmes, 28. But an MTV spokeswoman reminded him that one person can vote more than once.

"Your mom could've called 100 times," she said to Holmes, a former actor who auditioned in New York.